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Class A multichannel amplifier?

I just bought a 5.1 speaker system consisting of Coincident Technology Triumph Rxtreme II speakers with the front left and right speakers being supported by their passive subwoofers (which also act as speaker stands) and the left and right rear speakers being supported by the Coincident Technology speaker stands.

As these are high efficiency speakers I was wondering if there was suitable multi-channel Class A amplification, or at least a 3-channel and stereo amp that would be a good fit.

I will also need a high quality AV processor from Classe, Anthem, Arcam, Integra, etc and would like to hear any recommendations.

I just bought a Panasonic 65" plasma and an OPPO BDP-93, so any advice would be most welcome.

Greg
allchemie
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
If you have the money you cant beat the Anthem D2V, its room EQ is outstanding and its extremely adjustable in both audio and video settings. You could always go multi amp and get a couple class A amps for mains and surrounds and mono one for center as it gets alot of use anyway.
I use Classe multi channel amps that are limited class A then A/B but they sound great.
roscoeiii's avatar
roscoeiii
1,155 posts
 
Be aware that a multichannel Class A amp will put off a LOT of heat. I'd imagine that because of heat it is rare to put more than two Class A channels in one chassis.
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Due to what Roscoeiii describes, I found the best alternative for my Coincident theater. I'm using a Mac 7106 which is 100 x 6. Mac is clean, crisp, detailed and a little on the warm side. Since I only need 5 channels, I bridged 2 channels to give extra power to the center. Conquest R&L, Triumph center, mini Triumph rears. The only other amp I would consider for this theater in my price range is the Cary.
jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
Allchemie, you heed a multichannel preamp, NOT a pre/pro, for your expensive system. I have and love a c-j MET1; McCormack and others also make them. With an analog preamp, the player does all the decoding and bass management and you use the player's analog outputs to the preamp.
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allchemie OP
118 posts
 
I realize that a Class A multichannel amp would put out a lot of heat. Maybe I should consider a Class A/B with high bias into Class A. I heave heard that Earthquake Cinenova makes one that can be biased up to 20 watts into Class A.

I also wonder if the Arcam multichannel amp is biased highly into Class A, such as their AVR600 is. I have heard that the AVR600 is also biased to about 20 watts into Class A and that is what gives it its great sound. One would hope that Arcam would have put that same technology into their new multichannel technology, but I see nothing to that effect on their site.

When the OPPO BDP95 comes out in March I might purchase it and move my OPPO BDP93 into my bedroom system.

Is the Integra DHC 80.2 processor considered good? Or would it be smarter to get an Anthem or a Classe processor. Also, are the Classe multichannel amps good?

Greg
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